Lizard Radio By Pat Schmatz

Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz

Lizard Radio is a frequency that only Kivali can hear and that makes her special.  Kivali nicknamed Lizard is fifteen and being sent to CropCamp to learn and conform to society before she reaches adulthood.  She's a bender, someone who doesn't fit neatly into a category of gender.  The camp is strict and you must follow the rules or be expelled from society.

Lizard makes some good friends, experiences first love and has to decide if she is a leader or a follower.  She doesn't know who to trust and must decipher carefully chosen truths.  She must also come to terms with who she is and where she came from.  She was abandoned as a baby and she was wearing T-shirt with a lizard on it.

Lizard Radio is dystopian fiction of the most intelligent kind. When you begin the book the reader and narrator have all sorts of questions which are intelligently answered slowly as the book progresses. There is a unique form to the language in the book and the uses of certain words make you think of what the author is trying to say.  Schmatz is an excellent writer who paints a creative world with her words.  The writing is poetic, lyrical and picturesque.

Lizard Radio is creative and intriguing.  I promise you haven't read anything like it.  The author sucks you in and holds tight as you devour the story.  You will fall in love with the characters, Lizard, Rasta, Sully, and Nona.  Lizard Radio is riveting and I think you're really going to like it.
Do yourself a favor and immerse yourself in a creative futuristic culture that is thought provoking.

Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff

Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff

Brooklyn, Burning is the type of book that only comes along once in awhile and burns its beautiful story into your heart.

Kid is a teen runaway and so is Scout.  They meet outside of Fish's bar in Brooklyn and develop a relationship while they try and survive on the streets.  Both play instruments and make beautiful music together that is raw and creative.

Kid used to sleep in the old warehouse down by the river but it burned.  The authorities suspect arson and Kid is their prime suspect.  Kid is reeling from the loss of first love and is trying to find the strength to move on and is thinking maybe jail would be the right punishment.  Yet Scout is always there when needed and maybe the truth will actually set you free.

The story is narrated by Kid whose gender is undefined, in fact for both Kid and Scout, you don't know whether they are boy or girl, gay or straight.  Brooklyn, Burning is written without pronouns for the main characters.  It is an interesting way to read a novel and I loved it.  I love how Brezenoff experiments with gender and makes a statement about love and transcendance.  At its heart Brooklyn, Burning is a love story.  Yet this love story makes you think about gender stereotypes and how teens and people define themselves.

Brezenoff's writing is poetic and original.  I like a writer that takes risks and gets creative.  The characters of Kid and Scout are endearing and you will fall in love with them as they throw off societal labels.

I loved this story of non-conformity.

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Ask the Passengers by A. S. King

Astrid has a habit of lying on a picnic table in the backyard and looking up at airplanes and sending out her love to the world.  She employs this strategy when others are making her mad and she sends her love out consciously but silently to others.

She has two friends, Ashley and Justin.  Both have a huge secret Astrid is keeping, and she has her own secret that she isn't sharing.

Her parents are overbearing and her mom cares more about the opinions of others than she does her own daughter.  Astrid is questioning who she is and doesn't want to fit neatly into a box of other people's making.  Is she gay, she doesn't know? Is she straight, she doesn't know that either and other people's impressions, stereotypes, and definitions get in the way of figuring out who she really is.

Astrid lives in small town, Pennsylvania, where no one is gay, everyone is white and Christian and no one ever questions the status quo.  Everyone knows your name and your business so being different is something that doesn't happen.  Yet Astrid and her friends are different.

I fell in love with Ask the Passengers from the very first page.  Astrid is a great character and I love her vulnerability but I also like her honesty.  I am a humanities teacher and Astrid is in a Humanities class where she reads Plato's republic.  Astrid must argue a paradox for her Socrates project and walk down the hall in a toga.  I frankly love the classroom elements and how King is able to weave philosophical paradox's throughout the novel.

I have to say I have recommended Ask the Passengers multiple times since I finished it.  It is hands down the best book I read over the summer.  It is so smartly written and gives me a happy feeling deep inside.  Seriously, it is beautiful and layered with feeling.  You can feel the love emerging right from the turn of the very first page.

I love books that change you and kind of knock you on your head and get you to look at the world a little differently.  Ask the Passengers is that type of book for me.  At times, when I am angry with someone, I find myself thinking about Astrid and then I send them some silent love.  It makes me feel better.  So even though I am not mad at her, I am sending out my love to A.S. King for writing this book and I know that I have another writer to add to my list of favorites.

Readers, I am also sending out my love to you too.  Find yourself a picnic table, look up at the sky and exude an outpouring of love.  Imagine a sign flapping from the back of an airplane saying "Read Ask the Passengers".

Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin

Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin

Garnet Richardson is bound by tradition and history to fulfill the roles her mother has designed for her.  She will get married, raise a family, be a good Lutheran and take care of her parents.  Except that Garnet has other plans and as she tries to break out of her 1920's mold, she will be caught between love and duty.

Garnet's dad returned from the Great War shell shocked, the polio epidemic is raging in the city and she must leave for the summer.  Garnet takes the street car to Excelsior, Minnesota to stay with her Aunt and cousin, the Harrington's, at a resort on Lake Minnetonka for the summer.  Here she gets a job at a hat shop, meets a beautiful dancer, spends time at the lake, an amusement park and bird watches.  But mostly she sneaks out to hang out with her new friend Isabella and it is shaping up to be a summer to remember.

Garnet loves birds.  In each chapter of Sillhouette of a Sparrow, Griffin incorporates a bird species native to the Minnesota landscape.  Each bird has a role in the chapter and may have characteristics similar to the characters.  Garnet usually cuts a silhouette of the bird out of paper and hangs it on her wall to remember, to enjoy her flock.  I really looked forward to learning which bird Griffin would incorporate into each chapter.

Griffin creates a strong, subtle storyline in Silhouette of a Sparrow.  It is enlightening to learn what a young woman's role in society was like in the 1920's and how hard it was to be different, much less break out of society's traditional roles.

Silhouette of a Sparrow is different than traditional young adult historical fiction.  It has a unique storyline within a unique setting.  It is not so much a coming out story as it is a love story.  The love story was subtle, well-written and believable.  Griffin's characters are so real and passionate and they complement each other well.

Silhouette of a Sparrow was shortlisted for the Minnesota book award in the teen fiction category and it is well-deserving of it's place on the list.

"My first thought when she came through the door to the hat shop was scarlet tanager.  It must of been the bright red lips that perched on her pale face.  She had shiny black hair, bobbed, and dark eyes, and she wore a sundress cut above the knee and no stockings."  Pg. 51 (how scandalous, a dress cut above the knee and no stockings)

Garnet is a sparrow who is learning to spread her wings and fly.  Don't let this sparrow fly away.

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Gabe, the main character in Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, is a radio Dj.  I am going to write my review like one of Gabe's radio shows.

"Hello and welcome to the book review / radio show, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children.  My name is Laura but you can me Booksnob and I'm your host on this lovely night.  For you listening pleasure,  let's start with a hometown favorite of mine, Prince.  Get ready to dance like it's 1999"
The song plays.  

"Next up is a song by Madonna, the pop queen."  Madonna sings and we listeners get into the groove.
  
"OK fans, back on the air now.   A good friend of mine, John recommends that I tell my story and let listeners (I mean readers) get to know me.  Well instead of talking about myself, which I do so much of (inject sarcasm here), I am going to tell you about a radio show host, I admire whose name is Gabe.  Gabe recommends rocking your B side. What is a B side you say?  Well back when music came in vinyl record form, 45's had an A and a B side.  B sides weren't played much by radio dj's but sometimes they became big hits.  Since people come in a variety of shapes, sizes and personalities, it means we all have an A side and a B side.  By day, Gabe is really a female whose name is Liz (his A side), by night he is Gabe, the true self that he has to hide from most of the world( B side).  In honor of Gabe's B side, I am going to play one of his favorite musical artists, Elvis."  So get out your blue suede shoes.  

"Back to business, let's take a caller.  Caller, your on Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, what say you?  
Yeah so is Gabe a guy or a girl?  
Good question, caller.  Gabe is transgender, someone who doesn't fit in the body he was given.  He suffers at home because his parents want to keep their daughter and aren't sure how to handle Liz as she transitions to Gabe.  Now that he is out to the public, he is getting bullied and threatened.  Music means a lot to Gabe as well as his two best friends.  Let's play another song,  How bout' some Bob Marley to lighten the mood." 

"Welcome back folks.  As the review/radio show, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children comes to an end, I'd like to say thanks for listening and if you like what you've heard or read tonight please tell all your friends about Gabe and his story.  Gabe's story is for music lovers, book lovers and for people who respect differences and embrace all types of people.  Gabe's story also gives a voice to teens in the GLBTQ community who are bullied for wanting to live their life outside the bounds of a particular gender."

"Let's end our show with Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl.  Please sit back, relax, contemplate, listen, read and expand your horizons.  This is Booksnob, rocking her B side."

With or Without You by Brian Farrey

With or Without You by Brian Farrey

With or Without You opens with a beating and the shock of it immediately draws you into the story.  Two teens on their way home from school get beat up by local school bullies.  They are singled out for being gay.  Evan and Davis are best friends who have wanted to fit in all their lives.  For each of them the summer after high school graduation is a time of change and of growing up.

Before they head off to college, Davis is forced out of his family home and moves into the Rainbow Youth Center.  Here he learns about a group of young gay men called the Chasers and he joins with strong need to gain acceptance and influential friends.   Evan has a boyfriend named Eric that he has kept secret for over a year.  He is an artist who is scared and largely ignored by his family and he is torn between his friendship with Davis and his love for Eric.  Evan also joins the Chasers but realizes that something is not quite legitimate about this group and he lies to protect himself.

The Chasers are a group of gay men who actually set out to contract the HIV/AIDS virus.  Calling it "The Gift".  Evan has seen the reality of the disease and knows that they are being misled but is hopeless to stop it.

Farrey has created a well written young adult novel that is like nothing I have ever read before.  It is unique, fast paced and shocking.  With or Without You is a endearing love story, a mystery and a work of art.  Mainly set in Madison, Wisconsin with the college town as a back drop, the story is realistic, multi-layered, news worthy and timely as it tackles issues many teens and adults deal with today.

With or Without You won the Minnesota Book Award for Young Adult Fiction this year and I can see why.  Farrey's has created a wonderful character in Evan who narrates the book in several mediums.  He makes up news stories in his head, he creates art and mimics famous artists, like Van Gogh or Keith Haring.

Farrey is an excellent writer who paints with words and the result is a novel that is radiant!